Unacademy Ready Chases IPL 2020 Title Sponsorship

Unacademy has made up its mind to be the title sponsor for IPL 2020. The online education technology company who was earlier one of the sponsors for IPL is now eyeing to replace the Chinese mobile phone company Vivo and get the title sponsor for itself this IPL season.

An official from BCCI confirmed that Unacademy has started with its process to place the bid, but has not agreed to make any disclosures at this moment. “I can confirm that Unacademy has shown interest and picked the bid papers. I have heard they will be submitting a bid and are pretty serious. So Patanjali if they bid, will have competition,” the senior official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

This year the Chinese mobile phone company which used to pay BCCI a sum amounting to 440 crores has pulled out its hand from IPL 2020 because of the Sino-India border stand-off. The cricket board is now in search of a lesser value — between 300 to 350 crore for a period of four months and 13 days.

In further addition to the statement, the official said that Unacademy is a part of IPL’s central sponsorship pool with companies like Dream11 and Paytm on the list. “Yes, Unacademy is already in IPL’s central sponsors’ pool from 2020 to 2023,” the BCCI official said.

Asked what’s the difference between central sponsorship and title sponsorship, the official explained, “The central sponsorship doesn’t include jersey rights.” “In IPL, jersey logo can only be of title sponsor and apart from that the various team’s sponsors. If they become title sponsors, it will give them rights on various branding properties,” he said.

Asked about the specifics, he said: “The prominent space in the backdrop board in the post-presentation area, the backdrop in the dugout, and boundary rope. A lot of these branding opportunities apart from digital and media opportunities are part of the partnership,” the senior official said.

While no one from Unacademy was prepared to speak on the issue, an industry insider, who is privy to the Edu-tech company’s preparations to file a bid, said the firm is ready to take the big plunge.

“Unlike some of the other Edu-Tech apps, Unacademy has 100% Indian investment. And four and half months is the perfect time to get associated with a brand like IPL and broaden their horizons in terms of brand outreach,” the source close to the development said.